1. Field
An outdoor unit for an air conditioner is disclosed herein.
2. Background
In general, air conditioners are cooling/heating systems in which indoor air is suctioned in to heat-exchange the suctioned air with a low or high-temperature refrigerant, and then, the heat-exchanged air is discharged into an indoor space to cool or heat the indoor space, and the above-described processes are repeatedly performed. Air conditioners may generate a series of cycles and include a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and an evaporator.
Such an air conditioner may include an outdoor unit or device (referred to as an “outdoor-side” or “heat dissipation-side”), which is mainly installed in an outdoor space, and an indoor unit or device (referred to as an “indoor-side” or “heat absorption-side”), which is mainly installed in a building. The outdoor unit may include a heat exchanger, that is, an outdoor heat exchanger, and a compressor, and the indoor unit may include a heat exchanger, that is, an indoor heat exchanger, and an evaporator.
As is well known, air conditioners may be classified into spilt type air conditioners having outdoor and indoor units or devices separately installed with respect to each other, and integrated type air conditioners having outdoor and indoor units or devices integrally installed with respect to each other. When considering an installation space or noise, the spilt type air conditioners may be generally preferred.
In such a spilt type air conditioner, an outdoor unit or device is separated from an indoor unit or device and disposed in an outdoor space, and a refrigerant collected from the indoor unit is compressed and then heat-exchanged in an outdoor heat exchanger to supply a high-pressure liquid refrigerant. For this, the outdoor unit may include a compressor, the outdoor heat exchanger, a blower fan, and a control box that controls operations of the above-described components and supplies power to electronic components.
The control box may include the plurality of electronic components which generate heat when the electronic components operate. In particular, high-temperature heat may be generated from a power supply device. Thus, components mounted on a substrate may abnormally operate due to the heat generated by the control box. If a large amount of heat is generated by the control box, the components mounted on the substrate may be damaged.
To solve this, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2007-0022948 discloses a structure in which a heatsink to cool a printed circuit board (PCB) is disposed on or at one side of a control box. A cooling guide to define a passage that guides air flowing by a fan motor assembly toward the heatsink is disposed on or at one side of the control box to improve a heat dissipation effect due to the heatsink.
Also, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2007-0077917 discloses a structure in which an air suction hole through which external air is introduced, a convection guide plate to guide a flow direction of the air, and a heat dissipation fan to forcibly blow the air within the control box to the outside are provided in the control box of an outdoor unit or device to allow the air within the control box to forcibly flow, thereby cooling the inside of the control box.